World's Dead End
by Hatsu Yukiya
Summary: VOCALO is one of the most infamous delinquent gangs in the city, known for their creed of protecting innocent civilians from the larger, more ruthless organizations. When the city's unstable peace is put into danger by one of their biggest enemies, VOCALO takes it upon themselves to put a stop to it.
1. Chapter 1

The woman's high heels clicked loudly against the alley pavement as she frantically ran full-speed ahead, ignoring the pain in her sides and her ragged breath. She had to keep running, she had to get away. A few tears leaked out of her eyes as a deep sense of dread dropped like a stone into her stomach. She could hear it, behind her, the heavy footsteps of her pursuer gaining ground, catching up with terrifying haste. There was no way she could outrun this, the woman knew, but she had to at least try. She couldn't just give in.

She sped up as much as she could, trying to put as much distance between herself and her pursuer as possible. It was no use; he just quickened his pace accordingly. A small sob escaped her lips. Was this really how it was going to end?

At the worst possible time, the woman's left high heel hit the ground at a bad angle and, screaming as she felt her ankle sprain, she collapsed in a quivering heap. Dimly, she could hear the steps of her pursuer slow, and finally stop. She shakily raised herself up with her arms, and turned her wide, horrified gaze to the leering face of the man standing over her.

"Thought you'd get away, huh?" he asked with a dark chuckle, reaching a hand out and brushing a few sweaty strands of pale hair from her face. Too terrified to speak, the woman remained silent, save for a few whimpers as the man.

"You're too important for us to just let you slip out of our grasp." His eyes narrowed and he grinned menacingly, curling his fingers around her arm and hauling her to her feet. "If I were you, I wouldn't make our group angry. It's a bad idea all around."

"And why is that?"

At the sound of the new voice, victim and attacker alike let out a startled gasp and spun to see a shadowy figure standing in the entry of the alley. Whoever it was stepped forward, and a thin, feminine outline could be seen. She was clad in a black, teal-lined kind of uniform, and a biker helmet of the same colors. Above her left breast, an intricately-curled symbol of a music note could be seen.

The man's eyes widened and his face twisted into an ugly, furious scowl. He shouted, "What the hell are you doing here? Get out before you get hurt, little girl. Your group has no business getting involved."

The new girl shrugged. "Oh, sure we do. And if I were _you,_ I wouldn't make us angry. It's...a bad idea all around, shall we say. Clear out."

"Like hell!" Without releasing his grip on the confused woman, the man reached into a back pocket and pulled out a handgun, aiming it carefully at the girl. "Leave. I don't want to shoot a kid, you know."

"You won't."

Before he could react, the girl rushed forward, spinning and kicking the gun out of his hand. She elbowed him in the gut, then the groin, and when he collapsed in pain she took off her helmet and slammed it into his face.

Blood spurted from the man's nose and he collapsed onto the ground, coughing up a few teeth. Without wasting a moment, the girl grabbed the woman's wrist and pulled her forward. Ignoring the pain in her ankle, the woman complied, and the two hurried out of the alley. They ran down a few more streets, the girl holding her helmet with one hand and the woman's wrist with the other.

They finally slowed in another alley, safe out of sight from the rest of the street. Anyone who looked into the alley would only see darkness.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked, and the woman nodded hesitantly. It was too dark to see her savior's face, and she hadn't gotten a good look at her as they were running, but at the moment only one thing mattered.

"T-Thank you for saving me," she stammered, bending down and gingerly feeling her swollen ankle. "You...you're from..."

The younger girl didn't say anything, and the woman took that as a sign to continue. "You're from VOCALO, aren't you?"

A brief nod. The woman sagged against the brick wall of the alley. "Oh, thank goodness."

VOCALO was one of the many gangs in the city, and one of the most famous. Unlike the other gangs in the city, VOCALO fought to protect the citizens around them, rather than take them over and rule with fear. It was known for its brilliant tactics and members who never showed their faces, instead going by unit numbers rather than names. The only thing that was known about its leader was the number 01-39.

In the extremely dim lighting, the woman could see the girl fitting her helmet over her head again. "Do you think you can get home? I hate to leave you alone, but I'm busy at the moment."

"O-Oh...yes, I think I still have my cell phone on me. My house isn't too far away, either."

"Good." Without another word, the girl turned and hurried out of the alley, leaving the woman behind.

**xXx**

"Well that took long enough," Len said, eyeing Miku as she came back up the street. "Seriously, you just have to save everyone you see, huh?"

Once she was safely in the shadows, next to where her motorcycle was parked, Miku pulled off her helmet and shook out her long teal hair. "Gosh, you say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not a bad thing. Just saying we're behind now, and you know how Luka gets when we're late."

Next to him, Len's twin sister Rin waved her hand dismissively. "Eh, Luka can suck it up. She's not the leader here, so she needs to deal with it."

"You're not the leader either," Len pointed out, gesturing mildly to Miku.

Miku grinned. Though only sixteen, she was the founder and leader of the VOCALO gang. After her parents had been murdered in their house by a couple of gang members when she was small, the girl had been obsessed with getting revenge for them. Last year, VOCALO had finally succeeded in taking out the organization that had been responsible, but Miku still wanted to stop it from happening to anyone else. She lived with a foster family, and snuck out at all hours of the night and day, but it didn't matter to her what they thought she was doing. As long as they didn't know what she was really up to, Miku didn't mind living there.

Rin and Len Kagamine were fourteen years old, but already senior members of VOCALO. The members of the group were known as Vocaloids to the general populace, and the twins were some of the best. Miku couldn't imagine leading the group without them.

"Come on," she said, placing her helmet back onto her head. "I really don't want a lecture from Luka when we get back, personally."

Rin whined, but did as she was told. Within moments, the three were speeding back to the group headquarters, where they were sure to be chewed out by their very irritable information expert.

**A/N:**

**Lame first chapter, I apologize. Considering that this is a Vocaloid story, and multichapters tend to not get a lot of reviews, I'm not expecting to get a lot of attention, but if you guys who do read could drop a comment or two then I would really appreciate it.**

**The uniforms Miku, Rin, and Len are wearing... I don't know why, but I picture them as the Love is War outfits. That just seems cool to me. Good or not, gangs need cool uniforms.**

**It'll get more interesting, I promise! **

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

"You're late." Blue eyes narrowing in irritation, Luka stared icily at the three as they traipsed casually through the door of the VOCALO headquarters. "Headquarters" implied a more impressive place than the space really was, but it was purposely kept low-key for camouflage purposes. Headquarters was essentially an aggrandized warehouse in the desolate part of the city, that looked from the outside to be completely abandoned and falling apart, but was completely renovated on the inside.

World's Dead End, which was what the section of the city was nicknamed, was home to most of the gangs that roamed the streets. Only the largest and most influential organizations took up residence in the wealthier areas. VOCALO had the resources and funds to settle anywhere they wanted, but it was best for them to remain as invisible as possible. If you wound up in World's Dead End, it was usually a sign that you weren't going anywhere in life.

Miku tossed her helmet into a corner of the large interior and attempted to comb her fingers through her long pigtails. "Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Miku was playing hero again," Rin tattled, snickering.

Sighing, Luka rubbed her eyes. "You were only supposed to be scouting the area, you know."

"I know." The sixteen year old pouted. "But hey, I think I might have saved someone important. It was this lady being kidnapped, by a member of that one gang on the east side. I recognized the insignia on his jacket."

"Oooh, East Side," another voice joined in. the group turned to see three of the other members, Gumi, Iroha, and Kaito, come in through the back entrance. It was Gumi, VOCALO's best sharpshooter, who had spoken, "We've been at them for a while. What's up?"

Iroha grinned broadly. "Are we finally gonna take those guys out?"

"Neru's still working on breaking down their firewalls," Len said, pointing over his shoulder to an isolated corner where an irritated-looking blonde sitting on the floor was typing away furiously, surrounded by three different computer monitors.

"How's that going?" Gumi called over. Neru only lifted her golden eyes to glare at her before returning to her work.

"I heard you don't want to piss off hacking geniuses," Kaito said sagely. "They can and will receive access to your deepest, personal secrets."

"Which is what I'm trying to do to our enemies, and I've been working for seven weeks straight, so if you don't mind I would love it if you could kindly _shut the hell up!"_ Neru snapped.

Miku raised her hands in defense. "Okay, okay. We're just going to go over here." She waved the rest of the group over to Luka's station.

Luka Megurine was one of the oldest members of VOCALO, though at age twenty that wasn't saying much. She was the main center of intelligence for the group, the one who gathered all the basic information they needed and kept up relations with their contacts. Without her, the group would fall apart, because none of the other members were really known for their tact.

Rin leaned against Luka's desk, pulling an orange out of a nearby mini-fridge and beginning to peel it, tossing Len a banana as she did so. "So what's up, great leader?"

"Yeah, you were talking about something as we came in," Iroha added, brushing a strand of her rose-pink hair out of her face.

Sitting at her desk, Luka faced the leader of the gang. "Spill it."

Miku took a deep breath. "Okay. I saw a member of East Side trying to get ahold of this lady. She was pretty fancy-looking, high heels and everything. I swear she looked familiar... Anyway, she has to be important, right? Otherwise East Side wouldn't be bothering with her."

"That group's been getting more powerful lately," Kaito frowned. "Hey, Rin, can you check to see if we have any ice cream?"

Rin grimaced and stuck another orange slice in her mouth. "Find it yourself."

"That's why we've been using all our resources and working Neru into insomnia; to find out what their goals are," Luka said, ignoring the two, "so if they're going after someone important then they're getting bolder."

"Right." Miku nodded.

Len crossed his arms with a sigh. "Well, until Neru's done working through the firewalls, there's not a whole lot we can do for right now."

"Censoring the swearing, she told me she was getting close," Gumi said with an optimistic smile.

"Great." Iroha stretched and checked the clock on the wall. "Crap, it's getting late. I need to get home; my mom thinks I'm at a friend's."

The twins looked at each other. "We should head out, too," Len said, and Rin nodded, looking downcast. "We'll see you tomorrow."

The rest waved goodbye, and the three disappeared into the night.

"I have work to do..." Luka rubbed her eyes. "We can figure all of this out later, when Neru's done."

"Right." Kaito turned to Miku. "I'll go put your bike away, if you want."

She smiled appreciatively. "Thanks." The blue-haired boy nodded and headed out. Suddenly exhausted, Miku walked to the center of the large room and collapsed onto one of the sofas they had set up. She would head home later.

After laying there for a while, drifting in and out of sleep, Miku finally got fed up with using her hair as a pillow. Sitting up, she attacked the long, messy pigtails, attempting to pull out the tangles. She had been wearing it in that style for years, to keep it out of the way, but it still got messed up infuriatingly easily. Taming it was impossible.

She felt a weight sit down next to her. "Let me do it," Neru said, pulling a comb out of her back pocket.

Miku blinked. "What's the deal with the hacking?"

Neru began gently running the comb down Miku's pigtail. "It's running through the final process. It'll take a while to download and break through the final wall so I figured I could take a break."

That explained it. Neru was only ever in a somewhat good mood when she finished a big project, which was why she was actually offering to help Miku with her hair. Neru's long side ponytail was nearly as long as Miku's pigtails, so she knew the trials of keeping it nice. Apparently fixing hair was one of the things that kept her calm in a sleep-deprived state.

Miku leaned back and closed her eyes. "That feels nice. Thanks."

"Whatever."

They sat in a comfortable silence for nearly a half an hour, until the two were pulled out of their reverie by a dinging sound coming from Neru's corner.

"It's done," the blonde said, rising from her seat and hurrying to her computers. She had been working at East Side's security systems for weeks, and looked immensely relieved to be finally finished with it. "Let's see what deep, dark secrets the bad guys are hiding."

Miku yawned. "I'm going to head home. Let me know what you find in the morning, will you?"

"Skipping school again?"

"As always."

"Same."

**A/N:**

**I love the idea of Neru sitting in a dark corner surrounded by pillows, computers, and empty soda bottles with panda-insomniac eyes and hissing at light anyone who came near for reading, guys, and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Miku didn't mind walking back home. She had to anyway, considering Kaito had already put the bikes away and it was too late for the buses to be running now. Her foster home wasn't that far away, either, so she could deal with it. Her foster family had long since gotten used to her coming and going at all hours of the day, and had given up on trying to make her fit in. Miku had two foster brothers and sisters each, and it was clear they didn't like her—the feeling was mutual—but her parents were always trying to make her feel at home. No matter what they did, though, Miku always remained cold and distant around them. She didn't want to get too attached. That was dangerous, with her line of work.

As it was, her sister Erika was already pretty suspicious. Though in her mind it was too far out to think Miku was the leader of VOCALO, she did accuse the girl of getting up to delinquent activity. Miku never confirmed nor denied her suspicions, which seemed to infuriate her.

Most of the family was in bed when Miku arrived at the house, but Erika was still up, and narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Where have you been?"

The teal-haired girl didn't answer and instead climbed the stairs to her bedroom, collapsing onto her bed without bothering to change her clothes and falling asleep almost instantly.

Her cell phone was what awoke her early that morning. Miku groggily picked it up, silenced the ringtone, and checking the time. Six-twenty-three. Okay, if she was being woken up that early there had better been a damn good explanation for it. She flipped open the phone and saw a new text from Neru.

_Haven't slept all night, so you can deal._

Neru needed to stop with the mind reading. Miku rolled her eyes and continued reading,

_Get down here now. It's more important than you can wrap your little green head around._

Miku groaned and flopped her head back down on the pillow just as her phone vibrated again.

_GET DOWN HERE NOW._

"Alright, alright," she muttered, pulling herself up and rubbing her eyes wearily. She slowly pulled on her clothes and crept out the door, stepping carefully down the stairs and silently out the front door. She didn't want to wake anyone up, least of all Erika. Once Miku as safely out onto the street, she broke into a sprint and hurried to VOCALO headquarters.

It seemed she wasn't the only one Neru had demanded to see. Luka was standing against her desk with bleary eyes, the Kagamine twins were leaning against each other, messy-haired and fast asleep, and Gumi, Kaito, Iroha, Meiko, and assorted other members filled the warehouse, all stifling wide yawns.

"This better be good, Neru," Kaito moaned, blinking rapidly in an attempt to stay awake.

Neru glared. "Oh, you have no idea." She spun her laptop around to face the group. "Read this." She spoke in a demanding tone directly to Miku, hands on her hips.

"Read it to me," Miku whined, "I can't right now."

"'S too early," Rin mumbled in her sleep. Neru grabbed an orange and chucked it at the girl's head, barely missing and failing to wake her up.

Looking immensely frustrated, Neru snapped, "This is important! You don't think I want to go to sleep? I do! I could have put all of this on hold, but no, I'm just here saving your asses!"

"Okay, calm down..." Yuma stretched. "Can't you just summarize it?"

The blonde threw her arms in the air. "East Side is going to take over the whole damn city, _is that simple enough for you morons?"_

"What do you mean?"

"That lady you saved yesterday, remember her?" Neru asked Miku sardonically.

"Yeah, I remember. What about her?"

"She happens to be the senator's wife."

The group perked up considerably, looking around at each other with interest.

"What does that mean?" Teto frowned.

"East Side was trying to kidnap her to use her as a hostage."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Miku's eyes widened in understanding, and she now felt wide awake. "The senator is the boss of this city, right? If they kidnap his wife, then East Side has leverage to gain political power. They really would be gaining control of the city."

Neru waved a hand to get her attention. "I over-simplified just now. I said East Side would take over the city, and that's only partially true. They were hired out."

"By who?"

"Black Shield."

The group erupted instantly into chaos. Black Shield was one of the biggest organizations in the city, if not the biggest, more akin to the mafia than an ordinary gang. VOCALO didn't have the resources yet to take them on, and they weren't stupid enough to try.

"Why would Black Shield hire out East Side?" Luka wondered, calm as ever. The others settled down at her words, though they all still looked excited and nervous.

"To do their dirty work." Neru patted her laptop lovingly. "You guys have no idea how much these people rely upon email. It's so simple to break down, I love it."

"That's not all you have to tell us though, is it?" Miku knew better than to assume the blonde was done with them. If she was, Neru would have been passed out on the floor already, snoring away.

Sure enough, the seventeen-year-old shook her head. "Nope, not at all. Since you foiled East Side's kidnapping attempt yesterday, they know that Mrs. Senator-Mayor-Person will be on the lookout and won't leave her house anytime soon. So, they've switched targets."

"To who?" This conversation wasn't going to end in a lot of happy faces, Miku could tell.

"Aya Koibuchi. Mr. Senator Koibuchi's daughter."

"Makes sense," Gakupo replied. "Mrs. Koibuchi wouldn't want to leave, but her daughter still would have to go to school. It wouldn't be difficult for East Side to snatch her up as she's going there and back."

Teto sighed. "This seems like a really bad situation."

"It is..." Miku rubbed her eyes, falling deep into thought. "If they get Aya Koibuchi, they have leverage. They'd have the senator wrapped around their finger, and the last thing we can do is let Black Shield and their underlings take any sort of political power."

Miki, a cheerful redheaded girl who was nearly as good as shot as Gumi, looked at Miku and grinned. "Does our grand leader have a plan already?"

Miku looked up and stared around at her group. "Yes I do, actually."

"Tell us, then," Luka insisted. "I want to put a stop to this as soon as possible."

The VOCALO leader smiled deviously. "It's simple. We're going to kidnap Aya Koibuchi."

There was a beat of silence as everyone digested the statement, then Iroha burst into laughter.

"I get it!" she exclaimed. "We're going to get to her to keep her safe, before the others can!"

Miku snapped her fingers. "Yep, that's exactly it. Iroha is so smart~"

Luka considered it. "It would work. And if we pulled it off a certain way, maybe East Side would think one of their guys got her before they suspected us. That would give us time to work out a more detailed plan."

With a nod, Miku said, "Right. For now, all we need to worry about is taking Mr. Senator's daughter into our custody."

"So here we are, sitting hear extremely early in the morning, planning out a kidnapping," Teto giggled. "This is fun."

"Today's a Sunday," Kaito said, checking his phone. "Which means she'll have school tomorrow. We could pick her up any time we want."

"The sooner the better," Miku said. "Let's plan this out more. Everything needs to perfect for this part."

The Vocaloids nodded, and began to move to the center of the room where the seats were. Teto nudged Len, who woke up with a start and knocked over Rin. The blonde girl fell to the floor and jerked awake.

"What did we miss?!"

**A/N:**

**Writing this is fun. I like me a smart, badass Miku. Next chapter is going to be awesome.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Is everyone in position?"

Miku's voice echoed through the headphones of the VOCALO members, and all the participants in the operation gave their affirmation. This was a big deal, which was why so many of them were out on the field at once. Kaito, Yuma, and Gakupo were the ones with the task of actually grabbing Aya Koibuchi, while Miku, Rin, Len, Meiko, Piko, Mizki, and Iroha were to act as backup and decoys. They were sure to be followed and possibly assaulted by their enemies, so each of them had some sort of firearm on their immediate person. Just in case, Gumi, Teto, and Miki were stationed on rooftops along the route, ready to shoot with their sniper rifles if necessary.

"All of you keep the plan in mind," Luka's voice spoke through the headphones, "Just grab the girl, shoot a few tires if you have to, and get the hell out of there."

"We _got_ it," Rin groaned. "We've been briefed like a thousand times!"

"Excuse me for wanting to make sure nobody dies or—"

"Guys?" Miku interrupted, "Shut up."

Rin and Luka ceased their bickering. It wasn't so much that Miku wanted them to focus—though it would be great if they did—she just didn't want to listen to it. Even when everyone was in a different location at the time.

Everyone was in their uniforms, headphones on with the helmets placed over them. It was nearly three in the afternoon, which was when Aya Koibuchi's school ended. Kaito's group, using the code numbers 02-04, GAKUPOID-707, and VY2-03 for personal identification, was positioned the nearest to the site, while the backup members were scattered down the route, lining up the way to VOCALO headquarters, where Luka and Neru were waiting for them to return. Thankfully, Neru had fallen asleep at noon the previous day and hadn't woken up since, which meant that Luka didn't have anyone to annoy her while the others were out kidnapping a person.

Miku checked her watch. It was two fifty-eight, so there were only two minutes before it was time to get started. School released at three, and it took Aya approximately five minutes to grab the things she needed and begin walking. They had figured that out by having Neru hack the illustrious school's security cameras and then letting her sleep as they stalked the senator's daughter through several recorded days to pick up her patterns. Aria, a quiet, polite girl with long, pale hair and an amazing talent for both mathematics and spectacular space-outs, had calculated how long it would take Aya to walk from school to her home and how long it would be before it was noticed she was missing. Granted, the problem wasn't that difficult to solve, but the others were all too lazy to calculate it for themselves.

The school bell rang

Miku tensed, wishing she could see Kaito from where her bike was parked. She was up the street a ways, too far away to view the school clearly. This didn't stop her from asking, "Do you see her yet?"

"It hasn't even been a full minute since the bell rang, boss," Gakupo replied jokingly, but she could hear the tension in his voice.

They fell silent after that, and the teal-haired girl stared at her watch impatiently. Three-o-two, three-o-four...three-o-six, three-o-seven...where was the stupid rich girl? Apprehension twisted in Miku's stomach. Had East Side anticipated their actions and moved to intercept them, grabbing the target before VOCALO knew what happened? No, that was impossible. VOCALO rarely documented anything by computer, every time they finished using the internet Neru permanently deleted the browser history, and the blonde had the best firewalls on the entire planet, or so she said. There was no way.

Three-ten.

Miku opened her mouth to suggest that someone circle around the school to make sure, but was interrupted by Yuma's sudden exclamation.

"I see her! Just left the building."

Relief. Miku sighed and said, "Let her get down the street a little more, then start following. If she notices and starts running, corner her in a less populated place. I'll let you decide when to move in. When you have her, give the word and the twins and I will move in."

"Got it. We'll see you later."

**xXx**

Kaito Shion wasn't usually very action-oriented, especially in the way of kidnapping, but he was pretty pumped about this operation. Excitement coursed through him as he watched Aya Koibuchi wave goodbye to a few of her friends and begin heading home on her own, liking the feeling of doing something important and potentially dangerous when usually it was the other two older boys in the lead for this kind of thing. He nodded to Yuma and Gakupo, "We can head out now."

"Right."

After they replaced their helmets, the boys kicked back the stands on their motorcycles and drove casually down the street, subtly tailing their target. Aya hadn't noticed anything as of yet, and walked carelessly down the sidewalk, her schoolbag swinging at her side. It must have been a pretty good Monday for her.

_It's about to get a whole lot worse,_ Kaito thought to himself, smiling a little at the thought. Whether she knew it was with good intentions or not, Aya Koibuchi would likely not take kindly at all to being kidnapped.

She turned a corner, and the Vocaloids followed. She glanced over her shoulder, brow furrowed slightly, before turning back around and picking up her pace. Kaito glanced at Gakupo, and saw his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

Maybe they were enjoying this a little too much.

Either way, they had a job to do.

**xXx**

Gumi looked the raised edge of the roof, taking in the view from the building on which she was stationed. She had a great vantage point that enabled her to see everything from Aya's school all the way to Miki's checkpoint, her building being a tall office building and the surrounding places being businesses and apartments only two or so stories high. She leaned against her rifle, awaiting the action to start. There were Kaito, Yuma, and Gakupo, trailing after Aya Koibuchi. The girl was getting increasingly agitated, looking over her shoulder at the three Vocaloids and walking faster each time. The boys were speeding up to match her pace every time she did so, until eventually she broke into a full-out sprint.

"And so it begins," Gumi grinned. She heard Teto giggle excitedly into her headset from half a mile away.

"Those guys have thirteen minutes to get her grabbed, assuming Aria's predictions are reliable," Miku said vaguely to nobody in particular.

There was a bit of static, and then Meiko replied, "We can't rely on Aria for a lot of things, but math is one of them. Just have a little faith, okay Boss?"

"Faith. Right, okay."

Gumi snorted and returned her attention to the ground below. Kaito, Yuma, and Gakupo had caught up with their target, encircling her. Aya let out a piercing shriek that was drowned out by the growling engines of the motorcycles. Not wasting any time, Yuma grabbed her by the arm and pulled her kicking and screaming onto his bike. The three boys then took off down the street, heading down the preplanned route.

Gumi's shoulders stiffened. This was where she, Teto, and Miki came in. She scanned the area, searching for any adversaries that might have seen the incident. Sure enough, a sleek black vehicle pulled out of a nearby parking lot, moving in the direction Kaito's unit had gone.

"There's a car coming after you," she conversationally told the rest over the headset, aiming her rifle carefully. "It's a normal-looking black thing. Super shiny."

"There's one over in my area too," Teto replied after a brief pause. "It hasn't started moving yet, so I guess they haven't got the news."

"I see two," Miki chipped in. "Same status."

"There's on across the street from me," Piko reported. "It hasn't seen me, and it isn't moving either. The guy inside is on his cell phone and looking up the street."

"So we have four confirmed East Side vehicles. Gumi, take care of the one you see following the guys. The others snipers will get theirs and if there are any more, then the decoys can take care of them." Luka's voice was cool, entirely business as she directed the Vocaloids.

"No problem." Gumi held her tongue between her teeth as she lowered her rifle, looking through the magnifying glass. The car wasn't moving as fast as the motorcycles, but it was gaining ground quickly. Thankful they were in a quiet part of the city, and that she was on a high building, the green-haired girl muttered, "Gotcha," and fired once.

Immediately, the car skidded off course, its tire blown to bits. It swerved sharply, narrowly avoiding a Laundromat before coming to a complete stop, steam rising from the pavement. The driver and two others evacuated the vehicle, and examined the small bullet hole in the tire. Feeling playful, Gumi sent another shot whizzing into a second tire, laughing out loud when the men jumped violently as the air hissed out of the rubber.

"This is not a time for messing around, Gumi!" Luka snapped. "Do you see any others?"

"Nope." Gumi saluted, though she knew Luka couldn't see or hear her do so. "The enemy is neutralized, captain."

"Great. Teto and Miki, do the same when your guys start moving. Even better, make sure they can't move at all."

"Sure!" Teto replied cheerfully. "Four useless tires, coming right up.

xXx

"Boss, head our way or send _someone_," Kaito requested over the headset. "This girl's insane. Yuma lifted his visor to tell her to calm down and she almost clawed his eye out."

Piko snickered, but didn't take his mismatched eyes off of the East Side car across the street. He heard the engine start, and figured it was time to take action. "Boss, my guy is moving. Should I get him to knock it off?'

"Piko? Yeah, go ahead. Who's near your position?"

"I don't know. Guys, who's near me?"

"I am," Mizki and Iroha answered simultaneously.

"Okay, here's the deal," Miku said sharply, "Don't let him follow Kaito's group. Lead him away and crash him if you have to. Teto and Miki will take care of the other two cars."

"Yes ma'am," Iroha said brightly. "Piko, I'll let you start this party."

"Understood."

The car pulled out of the parking lot, the driver looking furious. Before he could gather enough speed to go chasing after Aya's captors, Piko pulled ahead of him, cutting off his exit. The driver surprised him by pulling out a handgun, and Piko reached for his own before another shot startled the man. Mizki had sent a bullet into the side of his car door, narrowly missing his hand. He didn't drop the gun, but quickly pulled his car into a complete U-turn and sped away in the opposite direction.

Piko glanced at Mizki and Iroha with a nod. "Let's go."

**xXx**

Yuma's face was bleeding and at the moment he was not appreciating the fact that girls liked to keep their nails long. He had Aya slung over his lap like a sack of tomatoes and was having hard time keeping her from falling to her death as she was thrashing around. He would try and tell her to keep still if she wanted to live and not splatter onto the road, but the last time he had attempted that she'd taken off a layer of skin.

"Jeez Yuma, we can see you from here and that does not look fun." Rin sounded far too amused through the headset, and Yuma gritted his teeth.

"If you can see us," he hissed, "Hurry up and come back us up."

"We're headed over anyway, no need to snap at us." Rin blew a raspberry into her microphone, and the static made everyone's ears ring. They all simultaneously groaned at her to knock it off and help the boys out.

"Sorry about that," Len apologized. "We're on our way."

"Rin," Luka growled, "That woke Neru up."

"Ah, hell."

"Focus, people!" Miku snapped. "Teto, Miki, have you taken out the other cars yet?"

"I have," Miki answered.

"Mine disappeared," Teto replied, sounding frustrated. "Everyone, watch yourselves.

A nervous laugh joined the conversation, and Yuma recognized Piko's voice. "Yeah, uh, it came after us. Right now it's me, Mizki, and Iroha versus like eight East Side mooks."

A heavy sigh. "I'll be right over. Where are you?" Miku sounded like a mother being called in for a conference. Piko told her the answer and she said, "That's like a mile away! How'd you get all the way over there?"

"You said to lead them away and we did! And now we're outnumbered!"

"Fine. Fine! I'm coming! Everybody else, make sure you all get back to HQ, now!"

Yuma was only too happy to oblige. Thankfully, Rin, Len, and Meiko joined their entourage then and VOCALO headquarters was within a ten minute drive from their location. As long as Miku could help out Piko's group, everything would be fine.

"You know something?" Rin asked.

"What?"

She laughed. "I think we've reached the point where we can call this, Mission Accomplished."

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the late update, but here's a long chapter to make up for it!**

**This chapter was a lot of fun and easy to write, for whatever reason. I was worried about it because there's supposed to be a lot of action, and there's...less action than I had originally planned, but it still turned out good, I think. I hope. I liked doing all the different POVs and I hope you all enjoyed reading them. The next chapter is going to be fun as well, but only because Neru's back and having her flip her shit is always amusing.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Aya Koibuchi was, without a doubt, five seconds away from having a panic attack, assuming she wasn't having one already. She'd been kidnapped off the street and was now slung over a grey motorcycle, held tightly by a person wearing a disguising helmet as they sped down the street into the desolate section of the city, World's Dead End, an area she would never set foot in on her own. A few other motorcycles had joined the three that surrounded her, driving in unison to wherever they were headed. Once, the guy holding Aya had lifted his visor to say something and she had only gotten a glimpse of pale pink bangs and golden eyes before scraping her nails across his cheek. He hadn't said a word after that.

The only thing she could see was the dark pavement whizzing by below her, but Aya could tell they were stopping when the bike slowed down. Sure enough, within seconds the procession had come to a complete halt. She raised her head slightly. They were in front of an abandoned warehouse, on some empty street. There were no cars or people in site.

Fantastic. There went her hope of screaming for help.

The pink-haired guy stepped off his bike and pulled her upward, keeping a firm grip on her arm as he walked forward towards the door. The others followed him, none of them removing their helmets. Aya struggled, but she hadn't ever been the strongest person she knew and it was quickly a lost cause. Too wary to speak, she followed obediently into the warehouse. To her surprise, it wasn't nearly as decrepit as the outside would suggest. In fact it was pretty nice. Brightly lit, with couches and tables at the center and a few desks in the corners, as well as stairs leading to an upper level.

Four people were on the couches, one of which appeared to be asleep, and a tall, rose-haired woman was pacing in the center of the room. She caught sight of the group and advanced towards them quickly.

"You got it done?" she asked. The one holding Aya's arm nodded and replied, "Definitely wasn't easy. You should see my face right now."

The woman looked Aya's way, and the teenage girl glared back.

"I see. Well, lock the doors and come on over."

Someone in the back obliged and the group removed their helmets. Looking around, Aya was surprised at what she saw. Two tall boys, a blue-haired one and other with long violet hair, as well as the pink-haired one who still gripped her arm. A pair of small, blonde twins who didn't look older than thirteen. A busty brunette woman. On the couches sat a woman with white hair and crimson eyes, two girls, one with long, pale hair and another with lavender pigtails, and the sleeping one, a girl with a blonde side ponytail who was glaring even while unconscious.

The group collapsed onto the couches with a unanimous groan while the woman who had greeted them looked around critically.

"We're still missing some."

"Boss, Piko, Mizki, and Iroha are still out acting as decoys," the blue-haired boy said. "The snipers should be here any moment. Other than that, everyone's here."

The woman looked at Aya again. "Sorry about this whole thing. I'm sure it's very confusing. We'll explain everything when the boss gets back."

"There better be a good explanation if you all want to avoid fifty years in prison," Aya replied icily. "Being kidnapped by a gang is a pretty good reason to go to court."

"You're assuming we're going to let you go," the girl twin grinned. "Len says you should always think things through."

"Please don't drag me into this," her brother, Len, sighed.

"You aren't exactly in the position to be making threats either," the brunette smirked.

"Would it make you feel better if we all introduced ourselves?" the girl with the pigtails asked. After a moment of hesitation, she smiled when Aya nodded. "I'm Yuzuki Yukari. I help take care of the finances for VOCALO."

"VOCALO?" Aya interrupted. "That's who you guys are?"

"Yep." Girl Twin nodded again. "I'm Rin Kagamine, Boss's right-hand lady."

"Likewise, I'm Len."

Aya stared at them. "You're twelve."

"We're fourteen!" Rin snapped, crossing her arms and looking offended.

"Whatever you say. Let's just get on with this."

"Luka Megurine," the pink-haired woman said politely.

"I'm Aria," another said, looking out into space as she did so. "I work with Yukari, and I do a lot of calculating for the group."

"Yuma," said the guy she'd clawed. He said his name grudgingly, not looking at her as he did so.

"Kaito Shion."

"Kamui Gakupo."

"Meiko Sakine."

"H-Haku Yowane." The white-haired lady was dabbing at the scratches on Yuma's face with disinfectant. Apparently Aya's nails had gone in deeper than she thought; the entire lower right side of Yuma's face was caked in blood. She had half a mind to apologize, until she decided that she didn't owe these people anything until they explained themselves.

"Haku's one of our medics," Luka added. "We have two others who are out right now, Ring and Lapis. They'll be back soon, they're getting food."

"Yay, food," Meiko grinned. "After all this, I'm starving."

"Can I go home?" Aya snapped, eyes narrowing. All together, the group replied, "Nope."

"I said we'd explain when Boss got back. I don't know where she is, but you'll have to wait until then." Luka's voice held a tone that left no room for arguing. Aya crossed her arms and slumped down in her seat, falling silent as the group began chattering around her.

**xXx**

Gumi whistled as she, Teto, and Miki arrived at headquarters, her prize tucked firmly underneath her arm. Obtaining it had been dangerous and a total blast, but it was the reason they were late getting back to World's Dead End. She was willing to bet Luka was completely ready to chew off her head and the heads of her fellow snipers. Teto looked unconcerned about the fact, but Miki looked a bit apprehensive as they threw open the door to the warehouse.

It was chaotic inside, as was to be expected. There were a lot of members currently at base, after all, and they had just pulled off a huge operation. Gumi raised her arms and called out, "Hey everyone! We're back!"

Everyone turned to face them, and Gumi caught the flash of telltale brown hair and eyes that proved Aya Koibuchi had indeed been successfully abducted. She definitely did not look too happy about it. The image amused the green-haired girl to no end.

Miki fidgeted uncomfortably. "Sorry we're late. Gumi..."

Luka narrowed her eyes and turned to Gumi, arms crossed. "I said to come right back after your jobs were done. What's that you're holding?"

With a broad grin, Gumi raised her prize to display. "It's an East Side tire."

"A...tire?" Len blinked, obviously confused.

"You're late because you were stealing the tire of an East Side car?" Yuma looked ready to facepalm himself. "Are you for real?"

"You know the place where you pump air into a tire?" Gumi asked. "I shot right on that little place. I noticed that and knew I had to have that tire to put on my wall or something."

"Without calling in," Luka pointed out.

Gumi shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose."

"We tried to stop her," Teto chipped in.

"To no avail," her partner finished, looking pleased with herself.

Luka really did facepalm then. "What am I going to do with you?"

"The question is, what would you do without me?"

"Excuse me," Aya Koibuchi interrupted. "If this whole mess isn't explained right now, I will throw a fit. So help me I will."

**A/N:**

** So not a whole lot got accomplished here...**

** Oh well. Next chapter will be better.**

** Thank you for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Miku grit her teeth as she slung one of Piko's arms over her shoulder, helping him stand after she parked her bike in the headquarters garage. Mizki and Iroha circled around to his other side and together the three girls assisted him in limping to the door.

"Sorry about this," Piko said with a pained expression, carefully keeping his injured leg from touching the floor. "It was my mistake."

"It's not your fault that you crashed," Miku replied firmly. "If you hadn't dodged the way you did, those East Side guys would have smeared you up against that building and you wouldn't have gotten out of it with just a dislocation."

"Nothing but blood and guts," Iroha chipped in with a grin before her expression fell a bit, "Your bike's still totaled, though."

Mizki nodded. "We'll have to get Ring and Gakupo to fix it up for you."

Piko grimaced. "It's a lot of trouble, though."

"Shut up," Miku sighed, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't your fault. I'm the boss; you have to listen to me."

The other three snorted and Mizki pushed the door to the main room. It seemed like the whole main group was there, as well as an unfamiliar brown-haired figure that Miku noted with satisfaction had to be the senator's daughter. Aya was slumped over on the couch, her head in her hands as she tried to block out the noise the Vocaloids were making.

Rin noticed the small procession first and jumped up. "It's the boss and everyone! Guys, shut up!" Her shrill voice achieved the desired effect and the room quieted almost immediately as everyone turned to look.

Miku saluted lightly. "At ease. Jeez, someone get over here and help us. Piko's heavy."

The white-haired boy looked like he wanted to retort, but his leg buckled underneath his body at that moment and he bit back a sudden exclamation of pain. A couple other members stood and helped ease him into a seat, where Haku was waiting near Gumi and Aria. Miku raised her eyebrows at the tire resting in Gumi's lap, but otherwise said nothing.

Haku grabbed onto Piko's ankle and, without preamble, jerked his leg into the proper position with a loud and sickening pop. Piko hollered once at the sudden shock, before blinking and rubbing his knee in surprise.

"That was...simple. Thanks, Haku." He sighed in relief. Haku nodded with a small smile.

"Now that that's out of the way," Luka began crisply, "we can get things started."

Miku stretched, eyes on Aya Koibuchi, who was eyeing her with suspicion and curiosity. "Yeah, I guess we can." One arm dropped to her side and the other extended a hand out to the other girl. "Alright, let's get the ball rolling. I'm Miku Hatsune, founder and almighty ruler of the VOCALO gang."

Aya's mouth dropped open. "_You?_ You're even younger than I am!"

"Some morons think that experience is directly related to how old you are," Miku replied flatly, drawing in her hand, "and that's not true at all. Look, this gang is forty people strong. Not all of them are here right now, but if you ask of the members who their leader is, my name will invariably be the answer. You can accept that, or you can't, and be difficult. However, please know that the more difficult you are, the harder the explaining is going to be."

Aya blinked, clearly not expecting such a blunt and detailed answer. Wordlessly, Miku offered her hand once more, and the girl hesitantly took it.

Miku's face broke into a sudden, bright smile as she plopped onto the couch opposite Aya and put her feet up on the coffee table. "Excellent. Okay, welcome to VOCALO 101, where we explain how and why we do crazy things like kidnapping rich ladies."

"Finally," Aya scoffed, gazing around the room critically.

"We kidnapped you for your own safety," Miku said immediately, looking impressively disinterested as she examined her fingernails. "It was that or let you get used as a political hostage."

"You're not making any sense here."

"Hm." Miku glanced swiftly over to Neru's sleeping form and back. "Well, she's out, so I guess I have to do this on my own. Basically, this one gang who's our enemy allied up with this other gang who's an even bigger enemy and now they're after you so they can blackmail your dad into giving them political power. "Stunned into silence, Aya just stared. Miku smirked and reclined back. "You get it now? We saved you."

"It wasn't all that easy, either," Yuma muttered.

Aya ignored him and leaned forward. "Wait, wait," she said, "So...they had me wait that long for such a short explanation?"

"I guess. But maybe you wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't come from the leader herself." Miku shrugged. "The bigger problem we have to discuss here is what to do now."

"Now? You mean you don't have a plan?"

"We have the outlines of one," Luka cut in smoothly, speaking for the first time since the conversation began. "You may not like it."

"It's just a short-term plan though," Miku added hurriedly. "Well...the thing is, we can't exactly let you go home with those nuts on the prowl, you know."

"What?!" Aya exclaimed, jumping up, "I can't let my parents think I'm missing! I can't do that to them!"

"Calm the fuck down!" a new voice joined in. everyone turned to see Neru sitting up and rubbing her eyes irritably. "Good god, and I thought my life would be easier once we got you under control."

"Excuse me?!"

Neru groaned. "Look princess, if you don't listen and do what we say, you're as good as dead. I fairly certain you're used to getting everything you want and that's not how we do things here. If you care about your own safety and family at all, you'll sit your ass down and shut your trap."

Fists clenched, Aya glared fiercely at the blonde girl, who returned with an equally fiery look of her own. After a few seconds of said standoff, Aya sighed heavily and dropped into her seat once more. "Fine. Tell me what you've got."

Aria raised her hand. "Excuse me? I've got an idea..."

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the long wait between chapters. True story, this morning I was seconds away from deleting this story because nobody reads it, but I decided against that because I thought, "Hey, I really do like this story. It's solid and easy to write. So I'll keep at it."**

**BUT I do wish more people would give their input...**

**Aria IS going to get a bigger part here, people :P She's IA, and IA is my favorite, so how can I not make her more involved? Her time to shine just hasn't come yet.**

**Anyway, here's an update. Thank you for reading and please review!**


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